-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- `` I know I did n't chow down on a spoon ! '' declared John Manley , who recently discovered that an eating utensil was the source of his two years of ill health , coughing , vomiting and pain .

The Wilmington , North Carolina , resident had surgery last week to remove part of a plastic spoon from his lung . And it was n't just any old plastic spoon ; it came from the fast-food chain Wendy 's , with the restaurant logo clearly visible on the handle .

`` It must have been in the food or drink , '' Manley told CNN affiliate WECT .

His doctor found the spoon after looking into his lungs with an endoscope , a medical instrument with a long , thin tube containing a light and a video camera .

`` He explained that there was an object down there , and it had writing on it , '' Manley said . `` It spelled out ` Wendy 's ' on one side and ` hamburgers ' on the other , and I was a little floored . ''

So were his relatives , who , when they were telephoned with the news , were eating ... Wendy 's .

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North Carolina resident had two years of coughing , vomiting , pain

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Doctor peered in with an endoscope and spotted bit of spoon

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Man assumes fragment was in something he ate or drank